The turnout for a special funeral was a sight to see. Hundreds of motorcycles and police vehicles from all over the nation were lined up to honor a fallen hero in Baton Rouge. Police Officer Montrell Jackson was laid to rest as several thousand mourners, black and white, joined to pay tribute to a cop on his beat who was killed in the line of duty.

Just seven months later, on Nov. 5, 2009, a Palestinian secondgeneration immigrant, Nidal Hasan, went on a shooting rampage at the army base in Fort Hood, Texas. He annihilated 13 people, but the U.S. Department of Defense called the carnage the result of "workplace violence," not radical Islamic terrorism.

Here's what was accomplished: State government now has the second largest budget in Louisiana history (second only to the post-Hurricane Katrina days when state government was a mere conduit for the millions of federal taxpayer dollars that flowed through to help our people rebuild).

As I have done many times before, I am going to use my prerogative to go in a different but related direction this week. It will still be about meth, but if you are looking for the next big meth bust or meth-fueled horrific act, I'm going to do something different today.

Early Sunday mornings are a quiet time for me. I’m generally at a local coffee house in Baton Rouge looking over the morning papers for ideas to discuss on my midmorning syndicated radio program. Several police officers dropped in for a coffee break, and we visited about the aftermath of the recent Alton Sterling shooting.

Beginning Monday, the Democratic National Committee will host its presidential nominating convention in Philadelphia, and here is a preview of the agenda. A lady who identifies herself only as Tina in Florida gets most of the credit for this, but I have added my two cents.

Gov. Edwards made the announcement alongside Gov. Terry Branstad of Iowa, Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia, Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada, and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa. TPP has been endorsed by business organizations across the country, including the U.

But because we were still in shock due to the shootings in Dallas, many of us may not have been aware of another shooting of multiple civil servants and a law enforcement official that transpired at the Berrien County Courthouse in Michigan just four days later on July 11.

Some 4,000 Republican delegates and party officials are converging in Cleveland this week, with Democrats heading for Philadelphia the following week. The old process of picking national candidates in the proverbial smoke-filled room has gone by the wayside in favor of party primaries.

The nickname is a perfect fit. He can lie with the best of them. Over the years, he has fibbed his way into and out of trouble countless times. Still, he has had time to govern the state of Arkansas, lead the free world and become a gazillionaire. I've got to hand it to him.